Ski in style

Zermatt, Switzerland - Part 2

Hotel Matterhorn Focus

A local man, Heinz Julen, has almost singlehandedly made Zermatt
a design-friendly environment, with a series of imaginative hotels
and apartment buildings, a restaurant and a nightclub. Others have
followed his lead, among them the designers of the Hotel Firefly,
adopting his artful mélange of materials - mainly steel, glass and
wood - and his characteristically generous windows, designed to let
in the grand Alpine views (unlike traditional chalets, whose tiny
windows were designed to keep heat in). But the interiors of Hotel
Matterhorn Focus, which opened last season, are the real thing:
genuine Julen, and quite wonderful.

A glass lift rises from the subterranean entrance into a huge,
free-flowing space containing a casual reception desk, a big
'island' bar in the middle (a typical Julen, retro-tech invention,
beneath one of his own bricolage of chandeliers), and a breakfast
area beyond. Much of the wall space is lined with what look like
display cases from a 19th-century jewellers, except that
they contain basic, artisanal tools; and beyond a curving glass
wall lies the spa, its almost circular pool reflected - to
head-spinning effect - in a mirrored ceiling studded with
starry-sky lights.

That fantastic collision of Belgian Art Noveau with a 1967 acid
trip makes the 30 rooms (all but three with Matterhorn views) seem
quite sedate, although they do have tables covered with animal
skins, free-standing wash-basin 'pods' and glass panels beneath the
beds which emit a delightful, calming glow. Ceilings mostly follow
the steep pitch of the roofline, permitting the insertion of a bed
gallery in the family rooms. The views are exquisite, especially
from the Matterhorn Suite, past whose windows glides the Furi
cable-car.